The Phoneme Machine is a computer software programme that shows the user how to pronounce sounds used in English words by using human lips. The user can click on each sound in a word and watch the movement of the lips as the sound is pronounced. Once they have listened to each sound they can click on the word and listen and watch how to blend those sounds to make up the selected word.

The Phoneme Machine is especially useful as a teaching aid for children who are learning to read. My children (aged 4 and 5) found this programme easy to use and had a lot of fun "playing" with the sounds and words. They did not even realise they were learning phonics. I placed a mirror next to the computer so they could watch their lips and compare their movement to the human lips on the Phoneme Machine with each sound they made.

You can also download calendar charts in several different languages. These calendar charts can be used to learn the months of the year, days of the week, numbers, letters and even colours in the various languages.

Last month THRASS released their Phoneme Machine Version 6 which includes a Cued Speech option for teaching deaf children.

The Phoneme Machine is truly a remarkable, fun and easy to use learning tool. It is hard to believe that this teaching resource can be downloaded for free.

Before downloading this software, please check you have enough bandwidth as the file size is 48MB.

Click here to download the Phoneme Machine from the THRASS web site.

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